Best Collection of Lies
I enjoy Antiwar.com, which I recommend to everyone over here in Malaysia as proof positive that not every American is a stark raving loonball. A majority, yes. All of us, no.
My question is where can be found the best collection of lies uttered by our president and his men re WMDs and other subjects relating to the Iraq war.
Thanks in advance.
Mike Ewens replies:
See “What a Tangled Web We Weave,” at Lunaville.org.
Haiti in Crisis
I am a concerned American citizen. I am not a conspiracy theorist by any stretch of the imagination. But something is not ringing true about the removal of President Aristide yesterday. I do not know where to go to attempt to find this information, and I am hoping you can help. The answers to the following two questions would help alleviate my concerns that our government may have just been involved in a coup.
1. President Charles Taylor gave a speech to his nation when resigning and to assist in the smooth transition of government. Why did President Aristide leave without addressing his nation, or leaving any type of media release stating his reasons for leaving power? Was he attempting to throw the country into even more turmoil, or was he removed against his will? I have seen nothing to lead me to believe President Aristide would not have gone to the media prior to or immediately after his departure. This information has not been reported.
2. I am not aware of any type of Haitian Air Force. Why would President Aristide need to fly in the air, out of contact with all media and his representatives, for hours without anyone knowing his whereabouts? Would providing his location placed him or his security in danger? Was his removal that urgent that he needed to be put in the air for his safety without a destination, or was there another motive? Were rebels planning on attacking yesterday morning if he did not leave? If so, why has this not been reported in the media?
I don’t know who to believe, but I am sure we do not have all of the information. Any additional information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Jeremy Sapienza replies:
1. Aristide was probably more concerned with getting out alive than addressing the people of Haiti, most of whom seem to hate him anyhow.
2. He was flown out on an American plane, this has been reported in all media. According to him, he was flown out without knowledge of his destination, only to be told just before arrival that he was going to Central African Republic. The reasons for this are unknown. The need for a plane is obvious – you can’t exactly drive off of Hispaniola.
As for rebels attacking, it seems rather obvious from media reports that they were indeed working their way into the city at a rapid pace. If I were Aristide, I’d hightail it out asap, too.
Addressing your main question – yes, I think the US helped this coup. But then, Washington has been instrumental in every horrendous Haitian happening for the past 200 years, starting with Thomas Jefferson. Everyone needs to keep their hands off Haiti and let its people figure out what they want. I think after two centuries of meddling, it’s about damn time.
Oil
Your site is perhaps the best “antiwar” site on the Web. All of the other sites are decidedly “leftist”; this doesn’t necessarily bother me, but reading the same, recycled opinions on the same issues for days on end becomes tiring. With Antiwar.com, I can read intelligent analyses of U.S. foreign and domestic policy from people with whom I probably disagree on various economic and social issues. It is a genuinely patriotic service for those Americans who, while searching for news on the state of the world, usually wander beyond television. Those feeding from the teevee trough are oblivious, of course.
I am wondering, however, why I rarely read about the coming global, oil crisis. In their March 1, 2004 posting the leftist website CommonDreams.org has a good article by Robert Freeman titled, “Will the End of Oil Mean the End of America?” One of the reasons (there are obviously several) the Bush Cabal invaded Afghanistan and Iraq is because the bulk of the remaining global oil-fields are in the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea regions.
The American economy will not function without oil (the cheaper the better). The American people want all of the (relatively) cheap crap that they can buy and eat. It is apparent that most Americans are mainly concerned with their levels of consumption, rather than with their civil rights. They will eventually surrender the latter in order to keep the former.
Oil production is peaking, or has already peaked, which means that the price of oil will rise dramatically in the near future. I’m certain that every one of your writers and readers would quickly grasp what that means for industrial civilization, which obviously includes America. The next twenty (or thirty or forty) years are not going to be pleasant for anyone on the planet (except for the very wealthy and their servants).
Nonetheless, I am not suggesting that all of our energy and economic problems will be solved by a massive switch to renewable sources of energy, such as solar, wind, hydrogen, or hydroelectric power. There are serious problems with each as a source of electricity. I am only suggesting that those who edit and write for your website take a greater interest in the coming Post-Oil Age.
~ David Berberick
Jeremy Sapienza replies:
First if all, it is not proven that oil will “run out.” That is a claim screeched by enviro-nuts who are just aching for modern civilization to crash and burn. Many studies have shown that oil wells actually can refill themselves over a number of years. In addition, there are obviously still large chunks of the earth that have not been tapped, and which cannot be ruled out as oil-rich areas. Alaska is a giant oil field. Remember?
Second, civilization will not end even if oil disappears. Solar cells can be made more powerful, hydrogen cells can be made to pack more punch. Right now there isn’t a lot of investment in them because the economy is run on oil.
Not much innovation necessary there. And certainly, if oil companies don’t think there’s a coming oil shortage, why should anyone else? And if there is, again, I’m sure Shell and ExxonMobil have super-strength solar and hydrogen cells ready to market.
Finally, oil and industry, with a few exceptions, is not the focus of Antiwar.com. Our focus is to end wars on foreign countries and end wars on Americans’ rights.
Thank you for your fine site and patriotism as well as intellect and integrity.
I am writing updating you on a few facts. You haven’t named the pilots killed in the 25 Feb 04 helicopter crash in Iraq. As this was another friend from Army flight school killed in Bush’s war I would appreciate your acknowledging CW-2 Wells as you have my classmates CW-2 Gukhiesen and Blase. There are others from my time at Ft Rucker whom I have been given bad news of, 1Lt King who was neck shot, CPT Tapscott who crashed on takeoff, Chief Williams who was a POW after his Longbow was downed, and a few others who I am sorry to not recall by name. I realize there are hundreds of other soldiers killed and injured, in fact thousands injured, these soldiers however have a spot of there own in my heart.
Antiwar.com has become a fine voice for freedom and I appreciate your had work. Please continue to excel at news gathering /disseminating and I will continue to support you.
~ CW-2 Scott Doyle, USA retired Longbow pilot
Mike Ewens replies:
It is updated now. Sorry that I missed their names.
Re Mike Ewens’ response to Carl Mattioli on the use of the word “casualties”:
“Casualties encompasses both those killed and injured. Where am I going wrong?”
Nowhere on the Casualties in Iraq page do you identify the numbers of deaths as deaths.
The inaccurate use of “casualty” as a synonym for “combat death” has become all too common in the mainstream press. I hope you see fit to clarify its usage here.
Mike Ewens replies:
Well, I demand that the reader infer. I don’t think that that is too much to ask.
The 50-Year Communist Assault on 5000 Years of Chinese Culture
Who ruined the 5000 years Chinese culture?
It was the western warships which forced open the door to China, and it was the western materialism which deprived the Chinese scholars of their sensual and moral dedication to fine arts and religion. In brief, the Chinese elite was simply forced to accept that the moral superiority lasted as long as 5000 years was not a rival to the western warships and guns.
Communism under our great leader Chairman Mao, was only a way of survival. The idea of socialism was originated in the ideal of “da tong” (universal humanity) founded by Confucius 2500 years ago.
Sascha is in my eyes an out and out liar, because he wants to make himself appear BIG, say something UNBELIEVABLY BIG, but he does not have the least knowledge about the reality of China at the end of the 19th century! He does not have the faintest idea how the western greed and injustice have ruined all the cultures in the world, not only the Chinese one.
If he has no knowledge about modern history of China, he must know something about the Vietnam War: Communism under the leadership of Ho Chi Min was like that in China at that time: a call of nationalism, a way of survival.
Ho Chi Min launched the “People’s War”, and was fully convinced that it was the only way to rescue Vietnam from the barbaric aggression. China under Mao Zedong supported him wholeheartedly.
Sascha must also find an answer to this question: what kind of culture is there now in Taiwan?
The right answer is: it is the Hollywood culture, instead of the traditional Chinese culture, which now prevails in Taiwan. Who ruined the Chinese culture there? It was the US!
I repeat: the western greed and injustice have ruined all the cultures in the world, among others, the Chinese culture!
Did it have anything to do with the Chinese culture when Mao Zedong turned all out to support Ho Chi Min in his resistance war against the US invasion? Yes, it had, profoundly!
2500 years ago, Confucuis preached “jiang xin xiu mu”, meaning “promote mutual trust and friendships with the neighbor countries.” The mutual trust and friendship between Mao and Ho was the best example of the continuous traditional culture, shared historically by both countries. What a pity indeed, of all the books written about the Vietnam War, nobody has expounded upon this, not even Sascha!
When we talk about the Chinese culture, it is the Chinese mind and the social structure what are of vital importance. Two points surprised me enormously:
1. Sascha does not know that Jackie Chan was from communist China. As long as the “wu shu” goes, Jackie Chan had only learned a fraction of the art when he became a movie star in the US.
2. Sascha does not know anything about what is going on in China at this very moment. People are commemorating Mao Zedong, saying that he was the greatest man the Chinese nation has ever seen. I agree. Can Sascha explain to the viewers of this website WHY?
Sascha Matuszak replies:
I was hoping to receive a few responses to this last column, but unfortunately all I got were useless little comments about how the West has destroyed Chinese culture from a woman who accuses me of living on Mars. Check out my previous column and stop your damn whining. I shouldn’t even reply, but I feel obligated to. The Cultural Revolution was the doing of Mao and friends and the current headlong plunge into capitalism is the doing of the last 3 generations of Chinese leaders. If you do have something to say about the west, talk about Walmart and not 100 year old warships.
US Rebuffs Aristide Abduction Claims
Question: Does anyone have his phone number in Africa or is he being held “incommunicado” against his wishes?
Eric Garris replies:
He just did an interview with Associated Press: see “Aristide: US Forced Me to Leave Haiti.’“
Partisan
Do you really oppose war? Or do you guys just hate Bush so much that you consider him more of a threat than Saddam, Al-Qaeda, or any other terrorist organization? Where were you guys when Clinton bombed Iraq and Bosnia? Why did I not see any of you guys protesting? This confuses me that you guys would be so partisan in the midst of global threats. Someone please answer me why Iraq no with Bush but Iraq and Bosnia yes with Clinton. Are you guys jealous that Bush was the one to make the world a safer place? Someone please show me where you guys were at during those times not only in America’s wars but also during the Pakistan-India build up.
Eric Garris replies:
You ask where we were when Clinton bombed Iraq and Bosnia? Right here!
Antiwar.com was formed in 1995 to oppose Clinton’s wars. I am the founder of Antiwar.com and have been a Republican for over 20 years. I have seen Democrats are historically the biggest warmongers.
Iraq Legal Issues
Now that the number of US deaths in Iraq has exceeded the number of votes that elected George W. Bush I have two legal issues to raise about the war.
What, if any, are the implications of the fact that the formal document given to the United Nations at the start of the war only mentioned Weapons of Mass destruction as a rationale for the attack and no other reason since we are now told that was “not the only justification for war”? Doesn’t the lack of such weapons undermine any legal basis that might have existed for the war?
Second what was the legal basis for allowing the ad hoc Office of Special Plans created by the Bush administration in 2002 to override the authority of the National Nuclear Security Administration created by Congress in 1999 for the purpose of detecting, verifying and monitoring Weapon of Mass Destruction programs around the world? Why did Congress not demand that NNSA verify the claims of the OSP before handing over the power to start a war?
Bravo for your analysis. I am an associate professor and chair, Department of History at Edgewood College, Madison, WI. Recently I send out a highly critical global email regarding Bush’s call for an amendment banning gay marriages. The idea, of course, was to solicit discussion which it did. Not to my amazement, a number of students were deeply offended that I would criticize the President, and demanded that I cease and desist.
Indeed, some have argued that a college campus is no place for such dialogue! My only response was to suggest that they transfer to a college like Liberty U where they can swoon to the President’s crooning. I even had one student so irate she told her mama, who in turn grilled our Dean about subversives such as me. Ah, what a badge of honor.
Keep up the good work.
~ Jay Hatheway, PhD
